Otto Preminger

Dorothy Dandridge and the Confidential Magazine Trial (Fake News: Fact Checking Hollywood Babylon Episode 17) /  by Karina Longworth

Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Over two episodes, we will explore Hollywood Babylon’s coverage of Confidential Magazine and the two celebrities who testified against the scandal rag in the 1957 trial that helped end what Anger rightfully refers to as its “reign of terror.” We’ll begin with Dorothy Dandridge, the first black actress to be nominated for a Best Actress Oscar. Dandridge’s testimony against Confidential reveals the publication’s racist agenda, as well as the double standards that governed her real private and public lives.

Dorothy Dandridge and Harry Belafonte in Carmen Jones (1954)

Dorothy Dandridge and Harry Belafonte in Carmen Jones (1954)

Dorothy Dandridge, Harry Belafonte, Robert Mitchum and Otto Preminger

Dorothy Dandridge, Harry Belafonte, Robert Mitchum and Otto Preminger

Music:

The music used in this episode, with the exception of the intro and outro, was sourced from royalty-free music libraries and licensed music collections. The intro includes a clip from the film Casablanca. The outro song this week is “Over and Over” by Madonna.

Excerpts from the following songs were used throughout the episode:

Yellow Leaves 5 - Peter Sandberg
Club Noir 2  - John Allen
City Fashion 3 - Björn Skogsberg 
A Playful Mood 2 - Peter Sandberg
Downtown Alley 2 - Magnus Ringblom
In The Lounge 02 - Lars Olvmyr
Tomorrow I'll Be Gone - Franz Gordon
In The Lounge 05 - Lars Olvmyr
One Two Three 5 - Peter Sandberg
The Piano And Me 3 - Peter Sandberg
Goofy Moments 3 - Magnus RingblomSay It Is So - Magnus Ringblom Quartet
Eventually Maybe - Oakwood Station

Dorothy Dandridge arrives at the Academy Awards ceremony in 1955, where we was the first African American actress to receive a nomination for Best Actress

Dorothy Dandridge arrives at the Academy Awards ceremony in 1955, where we was the first African American actress to receive a nomination for Best Actress

Credits:

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

Editor: Cameron Drews.

Research and production assistant: Lindsey D. Schoenholtz.

Social media assistant: Brendan Whalen.

Logo design: Teddy Blanks.

Dorothy Dandridge in LIFE Magazine 1954

Dorothy Dandridge in LIFE Magazine 1954

Jean and Otto Preminger/Jane in New York (Jean and Jane Episode 2) /  by Karina Longworth

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Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts.

Jean Seberg made her first two films, Saint Joan and Bonjour Tristesse, for director Otto Preminger, a tyrannical svengali character whose methods would traumatize Jean for the rest of her life and career. No wonder she rebelled against this bad dad figure by marrying a handsome French opportunist. Meanwhile, Jane Fonda moves to New York, joins the Actors Studio, takes up with her own hyper-controlling male partner, and tries to define herself as something other than Henry Fonda’s daughter.

Jean Seberg and Otto Preminger, c. late 1950's

Jean Seberg and Otto Preminger, c. late 1950's

Jean Seberg in Bonjour Tristesse, 1958

Jean Seberg in Bonjour Tristesse, 1958

Jane Fonda in a stage production of There Was A Little Girl, 1960

Jane Fonda in a stage production of There Was A Little Girl, 1960

Jane Fonda and Rod Taylor in Sunday in New York, 1963

Jane Fonda and Rod Taylor in Sunday in New York, 1963

SHOW NOTES:  

Sources:

Jane Fonda: The Private Life of a Public Woman by Patricia Bosworth

My Life So Far by Jane Fonda

The World and Its Double: The Life and Work of Otto Preminger by Chris Fujiwara

Played Out: The Jean Seberg Story by David Richards

Preminger: An Autobiography by Otto Preminger

“Two Saint Joans, Old and New” by L.R. Swainson, The Age, February 12, 1957

Photo of Otto Preminger kissing Seberg from Los Angeles Times, October 22, 1956

Music:

All of the music used in this episode, with the exception of the intro and outro, is from royalty-free music libraries and licensed music collections. The intro includes a clip from the film Casablanca. Outro song: “Since U Been Gone” by Kelly Clarkson. Excerpts from the following songs were used throughout the episode: “Meet Me In Queens 1, 2 and 3” by Örjan Karlsson, “By the Lake in the Evening” by Franz Gordon, “Be Still” by Johannes Bornlöf, “Widows Dance” by Håkan Eriksson, “Musique A La Carte 01” by John Åhlin, “Weekly” by Martin Gauffin, “Swing Manouche 05” by John Åhlin, “Old Time Action 2” by Gunnar Johnsén, “Cadillac Quiff Boys 1” by Victor Olsson, “Hot Rod Rebels 5” by Victor Olsson, “Hippies On A Bus 1” by Martin Landh, “It Takes Four” by Niklas Ahlstrom, “Readers Do You Read” by Chris Zabriskie.

Sponsors:

This episode is sponsored by Blue Apron, Naturebox and Squarespace.

Credits:

This episode was edited by Sam Dingman, and produced by Karina Longworth with the assistance of Lindsey D. Schoenholtz. Our logo was designed by Teddy Blanks.

Hollywood Royalty/Middle-American Martyr (Jean and Jane, Episode 1) /  by Karina Longworth

Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts.

Introducing our new series, “Jean and Jane,” exploring the parallel lives of Jane Fonda and Jean Seberg, two white American actresses who found great success (and husbands) in France before boldly and controversially lending their celebrity to causes like civil rights and the anti-war movement. Fonda and Seberg were both tracked by the FBI during the Nixon administration, which considered both actresses to be threats to national security. But for all their similarities, Jane and Jean would end up on different paths. They also started from very different circumstances. Today we’ll track Jane’s difficult upbringing with her famous but absentee father and troubled mother, and the path of privilege -- and tragedy -- that led her to the Actor’s Studio. Meanwhile, in small town, church-dominated Iowa, Jean Seberg announced herself as the town rebel at age 14 when she joined the NAACP. Three years later, she was plucked out of obscurity by a mad genius movie director to star in one of the highest-profile Hollywood movies of the late-50s.

Jean Seberg at her screen test for Saint Joan, 1956, Photo Bob Willoughby

Jean Seberg at her screen test for Saint Joan, 1956, Photo Bob Willoughby

The Fonda family, 1949, Photo by Genevieve Naylor

The Fonda family, 1949, Photo by Genevieve Naylor

SHOW NOTES:  

Sources:

Jane Fonda: The Private Life of a Public Woman by Patricia Bosworth

My Life So Far by Jane Fonda

The World and Its Double: The Life and Work of Otto Preminger by Chris Fujiwara

Played Out: The Jean Seberg Story by David Richards

The anti-Jane Fonda video mentioned in this episode. 

Music:

All of the music used in this episode, with the exception of the intro and outro, is from royalty-free music libraries and licensed music collections. The intro includes a clip from the film Casablanca. Outro song: "Modern Girl" by Sleater-Kinney. Excerpts from the following songs were used throughout the episode: "A Trace of Light 2" by Magnus Ringblom, "Memories of November" by Martin Landh, "Widows Dance" by Hakan Eriksson, "Musique A La Carte" by John Ahlin, "Mediterranean Mix 10" by Stefan Netsman, "Upbeat Flatfeet 2" by Martin Gauffin, "Les Beaux Jours" 3 by Martin Gauffin, "Ambient Acoustic Guitar 18" by Anders Ekengren, "Ripples" by Peter Sandberg, "By the Lake in the Evening" by Franz Gordon, "Gypsy Guitar Swing" by Martin Carlsberg,  "Discretion" by Peter Sandberg.

Sponsors:

This episode is sponsored by Winc, Squarespace and Audible.

Credits:

This episode was edited by Sam Dingman, and produced by Karina Longworth with the assistance of Lindsey D. Schoenholtz. Our logo was designed by Teddy Blanks.

Jane Fonda on the Cover of VOGUE, July 1959

Jane Fonda on the Cover of VOGUE, July 1959

Kirk Douglas, Dalton Trumbo, and Otto Preminger (Breaking the Blacklist, Part 2) /  by Karina Longworth

Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts.

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, rather Douglas flaunting of that hiring. Otto Preminger, who hired Trumbo to write Exodus, might see it differently. In truth, the end of the blacklist was a process that took over a decade, and couldn’t have happened without actions taken by, amongst others, Charlie Chaplin, director Joseph Losey, members of the Academy's Board of Governors and president John F. Kennedy. We'll talk about the connection between the end of the blacklist and the weakening of the production code, and what both had to do with the slow dissolution of the studio system amidst the rise of independent producers and a younger generation of audiences. Finally, we’ll discuss how those who had been blacklisted struggled to move on.

Show notes:
Here is a list of published sources that the entire season draws from:

The Red and the Blacklist: An Intimate Memoir of a Hollywood Expatriate by Norma Barzman

Dalton Trumbo: Blacklisted Hollywood Radical by Larry Ceplair and Christopher Trumbo

Trumbo: A biography of the Oscar-winning screenwriter who broke the Hollywood blacklist by Bruce Cook

When Hollywood Was Right: How Movie Stars, Studio Moguls, and Big Business Remade American Politics by Donald T. Critchlow

Odd Man Out: A Memoir of the Hollywood Ten by Edward Dmytryk

City of Nets by Otto Friedrich

Hollywood Radical, Or How I Learned to Love the Blacklist by Bernard Gordon

I Said Yes to Everything by Lee Grant

Army of Phantoms: American Movies and the Making of the Cold War by J. Hoberman

Naming Names by Victor S. Navasky

West of Eden: An American Place by Jean Stein

The Inquisition in Hollywood: Politics in the Film Community, 1930-60 by Larry Ceplair


Sources specific to this episode:

Kirk Douglas, I Am Spartacus: Making a Film, Breaking The Blacklist

Kirk Douglas, The Ragman’s Son

Howard Fast, Being Red

Jeffrey P. Smith, “‘A Good Business Proposition’: Dalton Trumbo, Spartacus, and the End of the Blacklist,” The Velvet Light Trap – A Critical Journal of Film and Television, Spring 1989.

John Meroney and Sean Coons, “How Kirk Douglas Overstated His Own Role in Breaking the Hollywood Blacklist,” The Atlantic, July 5, 2012.

“Kennedy Attends Movie In Capital,” New York Times, Feb. 5, 1961.


Credits:

This episode was narrated and produced by Karina Longworth, and written by Karina Longworth and Matthew Dessem. Our production and research assistant is Lindsey D. Schoenholtz. Our editor is Henry Molofsky. Our logo was designed by Teddy Blanks.