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 Drawing on Platt’s unpublished memoir, as well as ample interviews and archival research, The Invisible Woman will tell Polly Platt’s incredible story from her perspective, for the first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.
MAKE ME OVER ARCHIVE /
In this companion series to You Must Remember This, Karina Longworth will introduce eight stories about Hollywood’s intersection with the beauty industry. Told by writers/reporters known for their work at The New Yorker, The New York Times and other publications, Make Me Over will explore a range of topics, including Hollywood’s first weight loss surgery, the story of the star whose unique skills led to the development of waterproof mascara, black beauty in the 1990s, and much more.
Episodes:
HOLLYWOOD’S FIRST WEIGHT LOSS SURGERY: MOLLY O’DAY (MAKE ME OVER, EPISODE 1):
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 diets failed, she became the guinea pig of Hollywood's first highly-publicized weight loss surgery. This was in 1929, and the procedure was, as one fan magazine described it "dangerous...and all in vain." What lead Molly to such desperation? And what happened after the surgery her former lover, actor George Raft, declared “ruined her health, her career, and damn near killed her”? This episode was written and performed by Megan Koester. Listen
HOLLYWOOD’S FIRST WEIGHT LOSS GURU: MADAME SYLVIA (MAKE ME OVER, EPISODE 2):
Glamourous and shrewd, Sylvia of Hollywood became the movie industry’s first weight-loss guru during the end of the silent era. An immigrant of mysterious origin, she would cannily market herself to clients like Gloria Swanson, who she promised to ‘slenderize, refine, reduce, and squeeze’ into shape. But her taste for gossip and publicity would become her downfall in the 1930s when she published a catty tell-all memoir about her star clients. This episode was written and performed by Christina Newland. Listen
MARIE DRESSLER, THE FIRST FEMALE STAR TO CONQUER HOLLYWOOD’S AGEISM (MAKE ME OVER, EPISODE 3):
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 Dressler — homely, overweight, and over 60 years old. The public loved nothing better than to see their Marie play a drunk or a dowager and steal every scene from the glamour girls less than half her age. Dressler had been down and out for most of the 1920s. That she became a star at age 60 was an achievement that told Depression-battered audiences it was never too late. Today we take a look at the life of Marie Dressler; from Broadway, to the picket lines, to the breadline and to the Oscar podium, she proved that in some cases, Hollywood stardom can be more than skin-deep. This episode was written and performed by Farran Smith Nehme. Listen
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. Listen
ESTHER WILLIAMS AND THE BIRTH OF WATERPROOF MAKEUP (MAKE ME OVER, EPISODE 5):
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. This episode was written and performed by Rachel Syme Listen
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. Listen
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 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. Listen
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 to publish unauthorized nude images of her in their magazine. Williams went on to have a successful singing career and star in movies, too, 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. Listen
Vanessa Williams, Whitney Houston and Hollywood’s Misogynoir Problem (Make Me Over, Episode 8) /
Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts.
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 to publish unauthorized nude images of her in their magazine. Williams went on to have a successful singing career and star in movies, too, 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.
SHOW NOTES:
Sources specific to this episode:
“Miss America: A History”, missamerica.org
Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments: Intimate Histories of Social Upheaval by Saidiya Hartman
“Bob Giuccone, Penthouse Founder, Dies at 79”, obituary by Robert D. McFadden, The New York Times, October 20, 2010, The New York Times
“Bob Guccione’s FBI File: From Direct Mail Smut Peddler To Penthouse Founder” by Unknown, January 18, 2011, Talking Points Memo
“Interview with Penthouse’s Bob Guccione” October 27, 2008, YouTube
“The Indian Miss America and the First Native Miss America” by Indian Country Today, September 19, 2013, Indian Country Today
“Miss America: United States Pageant” by John M. Cunningham, November 8, 2019, Encyclopedia Britannica
“Ex Miss America Vanessa Williams Overcomes Her Disgrace by Showing and Singing the Right Stuff” by John Stark and Michael Alexander, January 30, 1989, People Magazine archives
“How Vanessa Williams Endured Her Miss America Scandal” by Oprah’s Master Class, July 13, 2014, OWN via YouTube
“Vanessa Williams at age 29 interviewed by Oprah Winfrey”, August 18, 2019, YouTube
“Fifty Years Ago, Protesters Took on the Miss America Pageant and Electrified the Feminist Movement” by Roxane Gay, January 2018 issue, Smithsonian Magazine
“‘You can be unapologetically black’: How Miss Black America has endured 50 years” by Robin Givhan, August 28, 2018, The Washington Post
Vanessa Williams resigns her Miss America title, 1984
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:
Innervisions - Stuart Alexander Elliott, Rick Driscoll, Jacqui Copland
Peacefire - Steve Baker
Beauties American Style - Hans Conzelmann, Delle Haensch
Dixie Blues - Geoffrey Peter Gascoyne
Good Vibe - Richard Glasser, Donald Geoffrey Peake
Ballad - Dick Walter
Dangerline - Giuliano Panella
The Dealer - Andrea Litkei, Ervin Litkei
Contemplation - Hans Haider
Style and Grace - Geoffrey Wilkinson
Beauty Queen - Rolf Anton Krueger
Romantic Soul - Dean Landon, Caron Lyn Nightingale
When Love Comes Around - Paul Lenart, Larry Luddecke
Pendulum - Didier Francois Dani Goret
Love Hope Rebuild - Steve Baker
Whitney Houston’s 1987 album, Whitney
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 Cassie da Costa.
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.
Vanessa Williams, in a still from Save the Best for Last video, 1991
The Hemingway Curse?: Mariel and Margaux (Make Me Over, Episode 7) /
Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts.
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 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. Special thanks to our guest star Tavi Gevinson, who played the Hemingway sisters in this episode.
Margaux Hemingway Photographed by Francesco Scavullo, Vogue, April 1975
SHOW NOTES:
Sources specific to this episode:
Finding My Balance: A Memoir by Mariel Hemingway
Hemingway: Winner Take Nothing directed by Michael Collins
Running from Crazy directed by Barbara Kopple
“Two Films That Subvert Feminism” by Frank Rich, New York Post, June 12, 1976
“Rape: Does It Wow ’Em in Peoria?” by Marjorie Rosen, Ms., July, 1976
“The Screen: ‘Lipstick’” by Vincent Canby, New York Times, April 3, 1976
“Not the Vintage Margaux” by Kristin McMurran, People, Feb. 8, 1988
“A Life Eclipsed” by Karen S. Schneider, People, July 15, 1996
Woody Allen and Mariel Hemingway in Manhattan, 1979
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:
Motion Picture - Colin Currie
Objective - Robert Edwards, Mark Anderson
Devil Heart - Daniel Horacio Diaz, Andre Paul Marie Charlier
Space Cocaine - Sammy Burdson, Lewis Parker
Ambient Registers - Colin Currie
Roguish Stroll - Toby Marsden, Harvey David Wade
Mists of Antiquity - Sidney John Kay
Black Virgin - Piotr Moss
A Picture of You - Roman Raithel
Pendulum - Didier Francois Dani Goret
Margaux and Mariel Hemingway at Studio 54, 1979
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 Michael Schulman.
Guest star Tavi Gevinson played the Hemingway sisters.
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.
Hemingway Sisters Muffet, Margaux and Mariel with their father Jack
Cass Elliot, Carnie Wilson and Fat-Shaming in Rock and Pop (Make Me Over, Episode 6) /
Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts.
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.
Mamas & Papas c. 1967
SHOW NOTES:
Sources specific to this episode:
Dream a Little Dream of Me by Eddie Fiegel
Go Where You Wanna Go: The Oral History of The Mamas and The Papas by Matthew Greenwald
American Legends: Mama Cass by Charles Rivers Editors
Reducing Bodies: Mass Culture and the Female Figure in Postwar America by Elizabeth Matelski
California Dreamin’ by Michelle Phillips
The Mamas & the Papas: Behind the Music from VH1, 1998
E! True Hollywood Story: Mama Cass Elliot, 1996
“Mama Cass: A Myth, Larger Than Life,” July 31, 1992, Entertainment Weekly
“California Dreamgirl,” December 2007, Vanity Fair
“Sink Along with Mama Cass,” June 1, 1969, Esquire
“What a Way to Lose 110 Pounds!” March 1969, The Ladies Home Journal
“Cass Elliot, Pop Singer, Dies; Star of the Mamas and Papas,” July 30, 1974, The New York Times
“How Karen Carpenter's Death Changed the Way We Talk About Anorexia,” May 23, 2016, Time
“Wilson Phillips’s California Dream,” May 17, 1990, Rolling Stone
“Carnie Wilson Says She Was Weighed and Fat-Shamed by Howard Stern: 'I Was Devastated',” November 8, 2017, People
Excerpts from the following television shows and films were used throughout the episode:
The Mamas & the Papas: Behind the Music from VH1, 1998
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, 1997
Man of the Year, 2006
The Mike Douglas Show, 1970
E! True Hollywood Story: Mama Cass Elliot, 1996
The Dinah Shore Show, 1972
Different - Cass Elliot featured in Pufnstuf, 1970
The Carol Burnett Show, Season 4, Episode 8, 1970
The Carol Burnett Show, Season 5, Episode 4, 1971
The Red Skelton Show, 1971
The Tonight Show, 1974
The Talk, November 8, 2017
Carnie Wilson: Unstapled, 2010
Cass Elliot, 1967 Photo by Jerry Schatzberg/Getty Images
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:
California Dreamin’ - The Mamas and The Papas
Creeque Alley - The Mamas and The Papas
Home Fires - Preservation Hall, Jenson Navarro
Summer Of Love - Christophe Marie Alai Deschamps , Brisa Roché
Picking Daisies - Dominique Gabriel Joseph Depret
Sometime - Rebecca Ruth Hall
Caribbean Fun - Gerhard Narholz
Nice To Meet You - Silvain Vanot
The Face - Julien Guillaume Yves Bonneau, David Alphonse Pierre Krutten, James Sheppard
Water Rising - Gareth David Dickson
One Emotion - Vasco, Jeremy Noel William Abbott
Snowmen - Kai Engel
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 Lexi Pandell.
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.
Wilson Phillips, 1991
Esther Williams and the Birth of Waterproof Makeup (Make Me Over, Episode 5) /
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
“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
“The Aquacade of Queens,” by Sergey Kadinsky, Hidden Waters of New York
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.
Passing for White: Merle Oberon (Make Me Over, Episode 4) /
Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts.
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 in NBC, The Outline, Eater NY, Paste Magazine, Scary Mommy, Bustle, Vice, and more. She's an author of five young adult books, a handful of plays, an is a writer/producer for the podcast "Masters of Scale." She lives in Brooklyn with husband/cheerleader Tim, and her amazing toddler Robin.
Merle Oberon and Leslie Howard in the Scarlet Pimpernel, 1934
SHOW NOTES:
Sources specific to this episode:
Race and the Modern Exotic: Three ‘Australian’ Women on Global Display by Angela Wollacott
Merle: A Biography of Merle Oberon by Charles Higham and Roy Moseley
Charmed Lives: A Family Romance by Michael Korda
Another Life: A Memoir of Other People by Michael Korda
Korda: Britain’s Only Movie Mogul by Charles Drazin
“The Trouble with Merle” a documentary by Marée Delofski, 2002
Goldwyn by A. Scott Berg, 1998
“Interval” the American Film Institute
“Sulfa drug.” ed. Kara Rogers, Britannica
“Health Effects of Exposures to Mercury,” by the Environmental Protection Agency
“Skin Lightening,” by the National Health Service
The Body Keeps the Score by Dr. Bessel van der Kolk
Cagney by John McCabe, 1997
Alexander Korda by Paul Taboni
Alexander Korda: The Man Who Could Miracles by Karol Kulik
Korda: Britain’s Only Movie Mogul by Charles Drazin
Fredric March and Merle Oberon, The Dark Angel, 1935
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:
The Black Dahlia - Paul Martin Pritchard
A Deep Longing - Laurent Eric Couson
Psychotic Mind - Patrick Thomas Hawes
Evening Papers - Geoffrey Peter Gascoyne
Blue Moan - Keith Charles Nichols
Sunset on Happiness - Laurent Eric Couson
Hollywood Holiday - Frank Samuels
Lonely Landscape - David Snell
Maze - Piotr Moss
Sentimental - Peter Yorke
Melancholy Feel - Mike Sunderland
Affairs of the Heart - Frederick Humphries
Tendre Billet Doux - Pierre Marcel Thierry Blanchard
Black Virgin - Piotr Moss
Voltar A Alfama - Marc-Olivier Nicolas Dupin,Christian Toucas
Farewell - Roman Raithel
A Picture of You - Roman Raithel
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 Halley Bondy.
Additional research by Kristen Sales.
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.
Marie Dressler, the First Female Star to Conquer Hollywood’s Ageism (Make Me Over, Episode 3) /
Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts.
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 Dressler — homely, overweight, and over 60 years old. The public loved nothing better than to see their Marie play a drunk or a dowager and steal every scene from the glamour girls less than half her age. Dressler had been down and out for most of the 1920s. That she became a star at age 60 was an achievement that told Depression-battered audiences it was never too late. Today we take a look at the life of Marie Dressler; from Broadway, to the picket lines, to the breadline and to the Oscar podium, she proved that in some cases, Hollywood stardom can be more than skin-deep.
This episode was written and performed by Farran Smith Nehme, who has written about film and film history for the New York Post, the Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, the New York Times, Film Comment, Sight & Sound, Criterion, and at her blog, Self-Styled Siren. Her novel, Missing Reels, was published in 2014.
Charles Chaplin, Marie Dressler, Mabel Normand, and Peggy Page in Tillie's Punctured Romance, 1914
SHOW NOTES:
Sources specific to this episode:
Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and the Powerful Early Women of Hollywood by Cari Beauchamp
My Own Story by Marie Dressler
Marie Dressler: A Biography by Matthew Kennedy
Marie Dressler: The Unlikeliest Star by Betty Lee
The Great Movie Stars: The Golden Years by David Shipman
“How to Lose Your Job as a Motion-Picture Exhibitor” by John McElwee, at Greenbriar Picture Shows
A Great Big Girl Like Me: The Films of Marie Dressler by Victoria Sturtevant
Interview with Cari Beauchamp, Oct. 15, 2019
Greta Garbo and Marie Dressler in Anna Christie, 1930
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:
When Pictures Learned To Move - Roman Raithel
Sweet Annabelle - Sam Fonteyn
Tell Me What You Know - Jess Ellis Knubis
Twitten Twirlings - Miles Dylan, Harry Spencer
Dancing Society - Robert Sharples
The Great Depression - Geoffrey Peter Gascoyne
Old Slapper - Geoffrey Peter Gascoyne
Oh What Fun - Frederick George Charrosin
Yacht Club - Alain Francois Edouard Bernard
Radio Days - Nicolas Wilhem Mollard
Swing Nocturno - Otto Sieben
A Picture of You - Roman Raithel
Paris Blues - Marc-Olivier Nicolas Dupin
Periodicality - Laurent Dury
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 Farran Smith Nehme.
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.
Hollywood’s First Weight Loss Guru: Madame Sylvia (Make Me Over, Episode 2) /
Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts.
Glamourous and shrewd, Sylvia of Hollywood became the movie industry’s first weight-loss guru during the end of the silent era. An immigrant of mysterious origin, she would cannily market herself to clients like Gloria Swanson, who she promised to ‘slenderize, refine, reduce, and squeeze’ into shape. But her taste for gossip and publicity would become her downfall in the 1930s when she published a catty tell-all memoir about her star clients.
This episode was written and performed by Christina Newland, an award-winning journalist on film, pop culture, and boxing at Sight & Sound Magazine, Little White Lies, VICE, Hazlitt, The Ringer, and others. She loves ‘70s Americana, boxing flicks, fashion, and old Hollywood lore. She was born in New York and lives in Nottingham, England.
SHOW NOTES:
Sources specific to this episode:
Hollywood Undressed: Observations of Sylvia as Noted by her Secretary
No More Alibis by Sylvia of Hollywood
Streamline Your Figure by Sylvia of Hollywood
Pull Yourself Together Baby by Sylvia of Hollywood
Gloria Swanson: Ready for Her Close-Up by Tricia Welsch
Calories and Corsets by Louise Foxcroft
Hollywood and the Rise of Physical Culture by Heather Addison
Sylvia of Hollywood and Physical Culture, 1920-1940, by Amanda Regan
‘The Mogul in Mr. Kennedy’, by Cari Beauchamp, Vanity Fair, April 2002
‘Sylvia Returns - To Restore You to Beauty’, by Madame Sylvia, Photoplay, Oct 1936.
‘Is Mae West Skidding on the Curves?’, by Madame Sylvia, Photoplay, Dec 1936
‘How Sylvia Insured Jean Harlow’s Success,’ by Madame Sylvia, Photoplay, Sep 1933
‘Sylvia Gives Clara Bow Some Timely Advice,’ by Madame Sylvia, Feb 1934
‘Can Beauty be Hand Made?’, by Gary Strider, Screenland, Jan 1930
‘Diet: The Menace of Hollywood,’ by Katherine Albert, Photoplay Jan 1929
‘Famous Masseuse Denies She Has Offended Stars’, by Audrey Rivers, Movie Classic, Oct 1931
‘Sylvia Writes Story About Film Colony, by Hubbard Keavy, Tampa Bay Times, 20 July 1931
‘Screen’s Sylvia Rubs Out #1, Weds A Leiter’, NY Daily News, 6 July 1932
‘Ginger Sues Broadcaster for Saying She Needs Diet,’ NY Daily News, 24 March 1934
‘Sylvia of Hollywood Tells Her Reducing Secrets’, St. Louis Star Times, 24 March 1936
Nellie Revell Radio Show, NBC, 1934, digitized by Amanda Regan
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:
Springtime in the Park - Paul Lenart, Bill Novick
The Grand Ball - Thomas Richard Peter Howe, Stephen Christopher Tait
Evening Papers - Geoffrey Peter Gascoyne
Blue Moan - Keith Charles Nichols
The Great Depression - Geoffrey Peter Gascoyne
Sick And Tired - Geoffrey Peter Gascoyne
Smoky Sunday - Geoffrey Peter Gascoyne
When Pictures Learned To Move - Roman Raithel
Farewell - Roman Raithel
A Picture of You - Roman Raithel
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 Christina Newland.
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.
Hollywood’s First Weight Loss Surgery: Molly O’Day (Make Me Over, Episode 1) /
Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts.
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 diets failed, she became the guinea pig of Hollywood's first highly-publicized weight loss surgery. This was in 1929, and the procedure was, as one fan magazine described it "dangerous...and all in vain." What lead Molly to such desperation? And what happened after the surgery her former lover, actor George Raft, declared “ruined her health, her career, and damn near killed her”?
This episode was written and performed by Megan Koester. Megan Koester is a writer, comedian, and Daughter of the Golden West; LA Weekly (before it was taken over by right-wingers, mind you) listed her as a "comic to watch," saying her "sets are as dark, self-effacing and in-the-moment as they come." She co-authored the Audible Original The Indignities of Being a Woman with Merrill Markoe and recently released her debut stand up album, Tertium Non Datur, on aspecialthing records.
SHOW NOTES:
This episode touches on an aspect of Buster Keaton’s post-MGM attempt at a comeback. For more context on Buster and how his disastrous stint at MGM left his career crippled at the point that his story dovetails with Molly O’Day’s, listen to our episode on Keaton from 2015.
Sources specific to this episode:
“Diet, the Menace of Hollywood” by Katherine Albert, Photoplay, January 1929
“Molly Has Own ‘Slogan’ as She Plans Comeback” Mansfield News Journal, January 21, 1937
“‘Vagabond’ Nominates Its Baby Star; Defies Wampas Selections” Hollywood Vagabond, March 31, 1927
“Hollywood High Lights” by Edwin and Eliza Schallert, Picture-Play Magazine, December 1928
“3 Mos for 25 Lbs” Variety, October 26, 1927
“F.N. Abandons Molly to Own Weight Fight” Variety, July 4, 1928
“Sliced Hips and Legs Save Miss Molly O’Day” Variety, September 19, 1928
Hollywood and the Rise of Physical Culture by Heather Addison
“Avoirdupois is Stern Foe for Film Actresses” Indiana Evening Gazette, August 8, 1928
“Surgeon Carved Off Mollie O’Day’s Fat — But It Came Back” San Antonio Light January 20, 1929
George Raft by Lewis Yablonsky
“Weight-Reducing Molly O’Day is Losing Out” Variety, December 12, 1928
“Gossip of All the Studios” by Cal York, Photoplay, April 1929
“Am I My Brother’s Keeper?” by Jane Stewart, The Modern Screen Magazine, November 1930
“Easy Come, Easy Go in Movies; Sisters Now Are Bankrupt” Albuquerque Journal, November 10, 1930
“R-K-O Does Everything But Act for Picture Duo” Variety, May 14, 1930
“Sally O’Neil and Molly O’Day: Talk and Singing”, Variety, June 4, 1930
My Wonderful World of Slapstick by Buster Keaton
“Hot From Hollywood...With the News Sleuth” by Hal E. Wood, Hollywood Magazine, May 1934
“Hollywood’s Film Shops” by Alanson Edwards, South Haven Daily Tribune, May 21, 1934
“Divorces” Billboard, July 28, 1951
“Sand Doin’s” Palm Springs Desert Sun, December 15, 1950
“Molly O’Day Hit By Egg, Gets Decree” Long Beach Press Telegram, August 9, 1956
“Divorce, Molly O' Day” Los Angeles Examiner Photographs Collection, July 10, 1951
Silent Stars Speak: Interviews with Twelve Cinema Pioneers by Tony Villecco
For more information on Molly O'Day, check out "Reels and Rivals: Sisters in Silent Films" by Jennifer Ann Redmond
Music:
The music used in this episode 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: The Black Dahlia - Paul Martin Pritchard
Devil Heart - Daniel Horacio Diaz, Andre Paul Marie Charlier
The Silver Screen - David Francis
Life is Harsh - Sophia Lydie, Ginette Domancich
Maze - Piotr Moss
Exotique - Paul Lenart, Bill Novick
Dreamy Reflection - Lorne David Roderick Balfe
Mysterioso Melancholia - Howard Lucraft
Le Clair, l'Obscur - 1st movement - Denis Jean, Maurice Levaillant
Lost In Paris - Geoffrey Peter Gascoyne
La Mondaine - Daniel Horacio Diaz & Andre Paul Marie Charlier
Dixie Blues - Geoffrey Peter Gascoyne
Blue Moan - Keith Charles Nichols
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 Megan Koester.
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.
Make Me Over - You Must Remember This Companion Series Coming January 21 /
In this companion series to You Must Remember This, Karina Longworth will introduce eight stories about Hollywood’s intersection with the beauty industry. Told by writers/reporters known for their work at The New Yorker, The New York Times and other publications, Make Me Over will explore a range of topics, including Hollywood’s first weight loss surgery, the story of the star whose unique skills led to the development of waterproof mascara, black beauty in the 1990s, and much more. Join us, won’t you?
SIX DEGREES OF SONG OF THE SOUTH ARCHIVE /
The most controversial film in the history of Disney Animation, Song of the South is a live-action/animated hybrid about a little white boy and the former slave he befriends on a plantation in post-Civil War Georgia. The film was planned by Walt Disney to cash-in on nostalgia inspired by the release of Gone with the Wind. On its release in 1946, the movie was considered technically innovative, but hopelessly retrograde in its presentation of African-Americans as grinning, singing servants who were happy to continue their circumstances of slavery post-Emancipation. And yet, Song of the South would go on to have a long, strange life into the 1980s and beyond.
Episodes:
DISNEY’S MOST CONTROVERSIAL FILM (SIX DEGREES OF SONG OF THE SOUTH, EPISODE 1): Disney Plus is launched with the stated intention of streaming the entire Disney library...except for Song of the South, the 1946 animation/live-action hybrid film set on a post-Civil War plantation, which was theatrically re-released as recently as 1986, served as the basis for the ride Splash Mountain, but has never been available in the US on home video. What is Song of the South, why did Disney make it, and why have they held the actual film from release, while finding other ways to profit off of it? Listen
HATTIE MCDANIEL (SIX DEGREES OF SONG OF THE SOUTH, EPISODE 2):
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 the Wind. By the time Song of the South was released, McDaniel was the subject of much criticism in the black community for propagating outdated stereotypes in her roles. But McDaniel actually began her career subverting those same stereotypes, first in black minstrel shows and then in Hollywood movies. Listen
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 popularized in blackface minstrel shows of the 1830s. Today we’ll explore this song and the other ways in which minstrel imagery and tropes made their way into Song of the South and other animated and live action films of the first half of the 20th century. And, we'll talk about how all of this is related to Walt Disney's push to net Song of the South Oscars. Listen
WHITE ALLIES AND THE BLACKLIST: MAURICE RAPF (SIX DEGREES OF SONG OF THE SOUTH, EPISODE 4):
Concerned that his movie about a former slave devoting his life to a white child’s emotional needs might be perceived as racist, Walt Disney hired known Communist Maurice Rapf to rewrite Song of the South. Rapf, the son of an MGM exec, was radicalized as a college student and, shortly after Song of the South was released, he was blacklisted. Today we’ll discuss Rapf’s life and career, and talk about how white leftists in Hollywood tried to subvert the industry’s racial status quo--and how their mission to “make movies less bad” led to their own persecution. Listen
BLAXPLOITATION AND THE WHITE BACKLASH (SIX DEGREES OF SONG OF THE SOUTH, EPISODE 5):
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 kinds of movies: Blaxploitation films, which gave black audiences a chance to see black characters triumph against white authority figures; and movies like Dirty Harry, which were emblematic of a concurrent cultural and political shift away from the Civil Rights Movement and toward Reagan-style Republicanism. Listen
SPLASH MOUNTAIN (SIX DEGREES OF SONG OF THE SOUTH, EPISODE 6):
After two more successful theatrical releases, in 1980 and 1986, Disney decided to put Song of the South in the “Disney Vault,” and never released it on home video or theatrically in the US ever again. And yet, at the same time, the company was developing a theme park ride around Song of the South’s characters and its most memorable song--but without Uncle Remus, or any signifiers of the complicated racial and historical dynamics the film, however clumsily, portrayed. Listen
Splash Mountain (Six Degrees of Song of the South, Episode 6) /
Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts.
After two more successful theatrical releases, in 1980 and 1986, Disney decided to put Song of the South in the “Disney Vault,” and never released it on home video or theatrically in the US ever again. And yet, at the same time, the company was developing a theme park ride around Song of the South’s characters and its most memorable song--but without Uncle Remus, or any signifiers of the complicated racial and historical dynamics the film, however clumsily, portrayed.
SHOW NOTES:
Sources for the whole season:
Walt Disney by Neal Gabler
Disney's Most Notorious Film: Race, Convergence, and the Hidden Histories of Song of the South By Jason Sperb
Birth of an Industry by Nicholas Sammond
Stony the Road by Henry Louis Gates Jr.
White Screens/Black Images by James Snead
Slow Fade to Black by Thomas Cripps
Making Movies Black by Thomas Cripps
Bright Boulevards, Bold Dreams: The Story of Black Hollywood by Donald Bogle
Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films by Donald Bogle
Joel Chandler Harris: A Biography and Critical Study by Bruce R. Bickley Jr.
Sources specific to this episode:
Dream it! Do it! My Half Century Creating Disney’s Magic Kingdoms by Marty Sklar
Designing Disney: Imagineering and the Art of the Show by John Hench
Imagineering: A Behind the Dreams Look at Making the Magic Real by Disney Editions
Birth of an Industry By Nicholas Sammond
“Animation Sings In Song of the South” by Charles Solomon, Los Angeles Times, November 21, 1986
“Song not Ended for Disney” by James A. Snead, Los Angeles Times, December 27, 1986
“Should dated films see the light of day?” Donald Liebenson, Los Angeles Times, May 7 2003
“Song of South: A Fascist Film?” by Thomas Pleasure, Los Angeles Times, August 2, 1981
“'Beulah Land' has something in it to offend almost…” by Joan Hanauer, October 7, 1980, UPI Archives
“Exploring Disney's Fascinating Dark Phase of the 70s and 80s” by Ryan Lambie
Jun 26, 2019, https://www.denofgeek.com
“Eisner's 19 Years At Walt Disney” by David Leonhardt, December 1, 2003, The New York Times
http://legacy.aintitcool.com/node/6325
http://vintagedisneylandtickets.blogspot.com/2010/07/remembering-deborah-july-8-1974.html
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 “South is Only a Home” by The Fiery Furnaces.
Excerpts from the following songs were used throughout the episode:
Great Hopes - Bjarni Biering Margeirsson
The Missing Pie - Jeffrey S Lippencott, Mark Thomas Williams, James Miles Hankins
Fancy Footwalk - Daniel Horacio Diaz
Curious Affairs - Daryl Neil Alexander Griffith
Gumshoe Blues - Paul Martin Pritchard
Linger Awhile - Marian Mcpartland
Mists of Antiquity - Sidney John Kay
Serene Pastoral Folk Blues - Alexandre Stephane Rusian Toukaeff, Baptiste Vayer
Sneak Easy - John Neille Rufus Altman
Whimsicality - Laurent Dury
The Setup - Daniel Horacio Diaz
Looking for Clues - Daryl Neil Alexander Griffith
Our Man in Miami - Daniel Horacio Diaz, Andre Paul Marie CHISL Charlier
Yacht Club - Alain Francois Edouard Bernard
Illustrious Prince - Laurent Dury
Lazy Pastoral Folk Blues - Alexandre Stephane Rusian Toukaeff, Baptiste Vayer
Free Stylin - Daryl Neil Alexander Griffith
The Pleasure Handiwork - Mathieu Claude Laurent
Credits:
This episode was written, narrated and produced by Karina Longworth.
Editor: Andi Kristins.
Research and production assistant: Lindsey D. Schoenholtz.
Social media assistant: Brendan Whalen.
Logo design: Teddy Blanks.
Blaxploitation and the White Backlash (Six Degrees of Song of the South, Episode 5) /
Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts.
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 kinds of movies: Blaxploitation films, which gave black audiences a chance to see black characters triumph against white authority figures; and movies like Dirty Harry, which were emblematic of a concurrent cultural and political shift away from the Civil Rights Movement and toward Reagan-style Republicanism.
SHOW NOTES:
Sources for the whole season:
Walt Disney by Neal Gabler
Disney's Most Notorious Film: Race, Convergence, and the Hidden Histories of Song of the South By Jason Sperb
Birth of an Industry by Nicholas Sammond
Stony the Road by Henry Louis Gates Jr.
White Screens/Black Images by James Snead
Slow Fade to Black by Thomas Cripps
Making Movies Black by Thomas Cripps
Bright Boulevards, Bold Dreams: The Story of Black Hollywood by Donald Bogle
Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films by Donald Bogle
Joel Chandler Harris: A Biography and Critical Study by Bruce R. Bickley Jr.
Sources specific to this episode:
Framing Blackness: The African American Image in Film (Culture And The Moving Image) by Ed Guerrero
Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films by Donald Bogle
Disney's Most Notorious Film: Race, Convergence, and the Hidden Histories of Song of the South by Jason Sperb
“The Campaign to Suppress ‘Coonskin’” by Stephen Farber, The New York Times, July 20, 1975
“Whites like ‘South’ Pic, But do Blacks?” Variety, February 23, 1972
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 “Pusherman” by Curtis Mayfield.
Excerpts from the following songs were used throughout the episode:
Serene Pastoral Folk Blues - Alexandre Stephane Rusian Toukaeff, Baptiste Vayer
Cotton Flower - Paul Martin Pritchard
Yacht Club - Alain Francois Edouard Bernard
Whimsicality - Laurent Dury
Reflections Underscore - Jack Richard Pierce
Converted Livestock Farmers - Baptiste Francois Guillaume Thiry
Hanging Tree - Wayne Anthony Murray, Tobias Macfarlaine, Elmore King
Rattle Them Chains - Wayne Anthony Murray, Tobias Macfarlaine, Elmore King
Free Stylin - Daryl Neil, Alexander Griffith
Memory Echoes - Hiroki Ishikura
Foxy Brown - David Oliver Rieu
Black Gumshoe - David Oliver Rieu
Blue Sophisticate - Marian McPartland
Ain't No Money in the Blues - Eric John LaBrosse, Jason Michael Carter, Joshua Phillip Cass Matthew Robert Danbeck, Adam Patrick Tremel
Gumshoe Blues - Paul Martin Pritchard
Nightly - Ilan Moshe Abou, Thierry Oliver Faure
Monsieur Taxi - Renaud Vincent Garcia Fons
Fancy Footwalk - Daniel Horacio Diaz
South Border - Olivier Jean Roger Samoillan
Credits:
This episode was written, narrated and produced by Karina Longworth.
Editor: Andi Kristins.
Research and production assistant: Lindsey D. Schoenholtz.
Social media assistant: Brendan Whalen.
Logo design: Teddy Blanks.
White Allies and the Blacklist: Maurice Rapf (Six Degrees of Song of the South, Episode 4) /
Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts.
Concerned that his movie about a former slave devoting his life to a white child’s emotional needs might be perceived as racist, Walt Disney hired known Communist Maurice Rapf to rewrite Song of the South. Rapf, the son of an MGM exec, was radicalized as a college student and, shortly after Song of the South was released, he was blacklisted. Today we’ll discuss Rapf’s life and career, and talk about how white leftists in Hollywood tried to subvert the industry’s racial status quo--and how their mission to “make movies less bad” led to their own persecution.
Walt Disney, c. 1940’s
SHOW NOTES:
Sources for the whole season:
Disney's Most Notorious Film: Race, Convergence, and the Hidden Histories of Song of the South By Jason Sperb
Birth of an Industry by Nicholas Sammond
Stony the Road by Henry Louis Gates Jr.
White Screens/Black Images by James Snead
Slow Fade to Black by Thomas Cripps
Making Movies Black by Thomas Cripps
Bright Boulevards, Bold Dreams: The Story of Black Hollywood by Donald Bogle
Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films by Donald Bogle
Joel Chandler Harris: A Biography and Critical Study by Bruce R. Bickley Jr.
Sources specific to this episode:
The Unamericans by Molly Antopol
The Fixers: Eddie Mannix, Howard Strickling and the MGM Publicity Machine by E. J. Fleming
Tender Comrades: A Backstory of the Hollywood Blacklist by Patrick McGilligan and Paul Buhle
The Red and the Blacklist: The Intimate Memoir of a Hollywood Expatriate by Norma Barzman
The Last Tycoon by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Disenchanted by Budd Schulberg
Moving Pictures: Memories of a Hollywood Prince by Budd Schulberg
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 “Jesus Was a Communist” by Reagan Youth.
Excerpts from the following songs were used throughout the episode:
Whimsicality - Laurent Dury
Illustrious Prince - Laurent Dury
Serene Pastoral Folk Blues - Alexandre Stephane Rusian Toukaeff, Baptiste Vayer
Lazy Pastoral Folk Blues - Alexandre Stephane Rusian Toukaeff, Baptiste Vayer
Blue Moan - Keith Charles Nichols
Dance Of The Peasants - Keith Charles Nichols
The Iron Curtain - Anthony J K Hymas
Solutions - Anthony J K Hymas
Ambitions - Anthony J K Hymas
Disney Land - Johnny Pearson
Gumshoe Blues - Paul Martin Pritchard
Cotton Flower - Paul Martin Pritchard
Hanging Tree - Wayne Anthony Murray, Tobias Macfarlaine, Elmore King
Crime and Danger Sign - Hans Conzelmann, Delle Haensch
Prologue Of A Drama #1 - Hans Conzelmann, Delle Haensch -
Credits:
This episode was written, narrated and produced by Karina Longworth.
Editor: Jared O'Connell.
Research and production assistant: Lindsey D. Schoenholtz.
Social media assistant: Brendan Whalen.
Logo design: Teddy Blanks.
“Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah,” Minstrels in Hollywood and the Oscars (Six Degrees of Song of the South, Episode 3) /
Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts.
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 popularized in blackface minstrel shows of the 1830s. Today we’ll explore this song and the other ways in which minstrel imagery and tropes made their way into Song of the South and other animated and live action films of the first half of the 20th century. And, we'll talk about how all of this is related to Walt Disney's push to net Song of the South Oscars.
SHOW NOTES:
Sources for the whole season:
Walt Disney by Neal Gabler
Disney's Most Notorious Film: Race, Convergence, and the Hidden Histories of Song of the South By Jason Sperb
Birth of an Industry by Nicholas Sammond
Stony the Road by Henry Louis Gates Jr.
White Screens/Black Images by James Snead
Slow Fade to Black by Thomas Cripps
Making Movies Black by Thomas Cripps
Bright Boulevards, Bold Dreams: The Story of Black Hollywood by Donald Bogle
Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films by Donald Bogle
Joel Chandler Harris: A Biography and Critical Study by Bruce R. Bickley Jr.
James Baskett in Song of the South (1946)
Sources specific to this episode:
“Talking About Race And Ice Cream Leaves A Sour Taste For Some” by Theodore R. Johnson III, May 21, 2014, https://www.npr.org
“Zip Coon (Turkey in the Straw) Words and Music” published by J. L. Hewitt & Co., N. Y., ca 1835 via Steven Collins Foster, http://www.stephen-foster-songs.de
“Old Zip Coon” via tunearch.org
“The Birth of Blackface Minstrelsy and the Rise of Stephen Foster” by Rhae Lynn Barnes
“Ragtime and the ‘Coon song’” via The History of Minstrels
“The Coon Caricature” via The Ferris State University, Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia
“What’s the Historical Background of “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah”? by Debi Simons, September 10, 2018 via Behind the Music
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 “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” sung by Rik Ocasek.
Excerpts from the following songs were used throughout the episode:
Jackson 5 - Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah
Doris Day - Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah
Los Lobos - Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah
The Hollies - Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah
Bob B. Soxx & The Blue Jeans - Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah
Miley Cyrus (as Hannah Montana) - Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah
Paul Martin Pritchard - Gumshoe Blues
Manuel Galvin, Jean-Jacques Marcel, Maurice Milteau - Memphis Minstrels
John Neville Rufus Altman - Sneak Easy
Jahzzar - Railroad's Whiskey Co
Wayne Anthony Murra, Tobias Macfarlaine, Elmore King - Hanging Tree
Paul Martin Pritchard - Wandering Nights
Daniel Horacio Diaz, Andre Paul Marie, Charlier - Our Man In Miami
Daniel Horacio Diaz - The Setup
Daniel Horacio Diaz - Fancy Footwork
Robert Bernhard Hauser - The Piano Bar Player
Rik Ocasek - Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah
Credits:
This episode was written, narrated and produced by Karina Longworth.
Editor: Jared O'Connell.
Research and production assistant: Lindsey D. Schoenholtz.
Social media assistant: Brendan Whalen.
Logo design: Teddy Blanks.
Hattie McDaniel (Six Degrees of Song of the South, Episode 2) /
In 1940 Hattie McDaniel became the first black performer to be nominated for and win an Oscar, for her role in Gone with the Wind.
Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts.
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 the Wind. By the time Song of the South was released, McDaniel was the subject of much criticism in the black community for propagating outdated stereotypes in her roles. But McDaniel actually began her career subverting those same stereotypes, first in black minstrel shows and then in Hollywood movies.
Hattie McDaniel, Gone with the Wind (1939)
SHOW NOTES:
Sources:
Sources for the whole season:
Birth of an Industry by Nicholas Sammond
Stony the Road by Henry Louis Gates Jr.
White Screens/Black Images by James Snead
Slow Fade to Black by Thomas Cripps
Making Movies Black by Thomas Cripps
Bright Boulevards, Bold Dreams: The Story of Black Hollywood by Donald Bogle
Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films by Donald Bogle
Joel Chandler Harris: A Biography and Critical Study by Bruce R. Bickley Jr.
Sources specific to this episode:
Hattie McDaniel: Black Ambition, White Hollywood by Jill Watts
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 “Boo Hoo Blues” sung by Hattie McDaniel.
Excerpts from the following songs were used throughout the episode:
Manuel Galvin, Jean-Jacques Marcel, Maurice Milteau - Memphis Mistrels
Manuel Galvin - No More Baby Please
Paul Martin Pritchard - Gumshoe Blues
Geoffrey Peter Gascoyne - Stripper
Manuel Galvin - Cotton Flower
Manuel Galvin - Keep The Blues On
Johnny Pearson - Disney Land
Daniel Horacio Diaz - Fancy Footwork
John Denis Hawksworth - The Depression Years
Jahzzar - Railroad's Whiskey Co
Eric John LaBrosse, Jason Michael Carter, Joshua Phillip Cass,Matthew Robert Danbeck, Adam Patrick Tremel - Ain't No Money In The Blues
Jules Ruben - Early Morning Blues
Didier Francois Dani Goret - Eyes Only For You
Hattie McDaniel - Boo Hoo Blues
Credits:
This episode was written, narrated and produced by Karina Longworth.
Editor: Jared O'Connell.
Research and production assistant: Lindsey D. Schoenholtz.
Social media assistant: Brendan Whalen.
Logo design: Teddy Blanks.
Disney’s Most Controversial Film (Six Degrees of Song of the South, Episode 1) /
Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts.
Disney Plus is launching with the stated intention of streaming the entire Disney library...except for Song of the South, the 1946 animation/live-action hybrid film set on a post-Civil War plantation, which was theatrically re-released as recently as 1986, served as the basis for the ride Splash Mountain, but has never been available in the US on home video. What is Song of the South, why did Disney make it, and why have they held the actual film from release, while finding other ways to profit off of it? Across six episodes of our new season, we’ll dig into all facets of Song of the South’s strange story. Join us, won’t you?
SHOW NOTES:
Sources for the whole season:
Birth of an Industry by Nicholas Sammond
Stony the Road by Henry Louis Gates Jr.
White Screens/Black Images by James Snead
Slow Fade to Black by Thomas Cripps
Making Movies Black by Thomas Cripps
Bright Boulevards, Bold Dreams: The Story of Black Hollywood by Donald Bogle
Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films by Donald Bogle
Joel Chandler Harris: A Biography and Critical Study by Bruce R. Bickley Jr.
Sources specific to this episode:
Who’s Afraid of the Song of the South by Jim Korkis
Diversity in Disney Films: Critical Essays by Johnson Cheu
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 “Controversy” by Prince.
Excerpts from the following songs were used throughout the episode:
Laurent Edmond Gaston Bacri & Jean-Louis Négro - Snow White & The Dwarves
Laurent Edmond Gaston Bacri & Jean-Louis Négro - Tic Tock Clock
Johnny Pearson - Disney Land
Frank Bernard Woodbridge - Creepy Corner Ghost
Jahzzar - Railroad's Whiskey Co
Paul Martin Pritchard - Wandering Nights
Daniel Horacio Diaz - Fancy Footwalk
John Greaves - Serie Noir
Gooding, Charlie H. Bisharat & Jennifer Anne Wood - The Late War
Joel Vandroogenbroeck - Ghost Town
Joel Vandroogenbroeck - Chain Production
Marc-Olivier Nicolas Dupin - Lola Lola
Alexandre Stephane Rusian Toukaeff, Baptiste Vayer - Serene Pastoral Folk Blues
Daryl Neil Alexander Griffith - Freestylin'
Daniel Horacio Diaz - The Setup
Prince - Controversy
Credits:
This episode was written, narrated and produced by Karina Longworth.
Editor: Jared O'Connell.
Research and production assistant: Lindsey D. Schoenholtz.
Social media assistant: Brendan Whalen.
Logo design: Teddy Blanks.
A preview of the new season of You Must Remember This is out NOW! /
This season, we explore the most controversial film in the history of Disney Animation.
With the launch of Disney Plus, the company's entire library could be made available for streaming. The one film promised to remain locked away is Song of the South, the 1946 animation/live-action hybrid set on a post-Civil War plantation.
What is Song of the South? Why did Disney make it even amidst protests? And why have they held the actual film from release for the past thirty-plus years, while finding other ways to profit off of it?
Join us, won’t you? As we uncover this hidden film in the Disney vault. New episodes of You Must Remember This will be released every Tuesday. Subscribe via Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts to hear it!
You Must Remember This Presents /
You Must Remember This is coming back this fall, but I am also going to produce a spin-off series tentatively titled “You Must Remember This Presents.” In this spin-off, I will curate and introduce researched stories written and told in the You Must Remember This style by other writers. I’m looking for freelance contributors to pitch me stories, which they will then write/report and read on the podcast. We have a budget to pay writers a decent wage for their contributions.
Each season will have a theme. The first season is called Make Me Over, and will focus on stories about the intersection of Hollywood and the beauty industry. I’m leaving this prompt purposely vague, because I want to see any and all interpretations of it. The only rules are:
Your story must fit into the You Must Remember This universe, which means it must have some connection to Hollywood in the 20th century. “Hollywood” encompasses movies, television, radio, popular music and the nightclub/vaudeville/ live performance circuit in Los Angeles. If you have a story you really want to tell involving other theater I’m open to it, but a pitch set solely in the New York theater world will probably not be successful. Same goes for stories about non-Hollywood film, unless there is some Hollywood angle. For instance, a story about Coco Chanel doing costumes for Jean Renoir’s The Rules of the Game would not be a great fit, but a story about Coco Chanel’s contract with Samuel Goldwyn could be, if you could find enough story there. Which brings us to the next rule…
You must be able to write a reported/researched essay of about 4000 words on this concept (or, if you’re a radio/podcast person and/or want to do something more interview-based, it will need to cut together into about 30 minutes of audio). Many YMRT episodes have a three-act structure, and all have a story arc. You need to convince me that there is enough material behind your concept to create a narrative podcast episode with a beginning, middle and end. Finally…
Ideally, you have a track record in long form storytelling, in print, radio, podcasting or online. With your pitch, please send a link to one thing we should look at or listen to that shows you can do the research/reporting and tell a sustained story. Again, most of these episodes will involve you reading aloud an essay that you wrote of around 4000 words, so you should feel comfortable writing at that length, and also comfortable speaking into a microphone—or at least, enthusiastic about learning how to.
Freelancers whose pitches are chosen will work with Karina to shape their story for the format, and will be given access to a studio in which to record. All of the writing and the recording will take place this fall. If you’re interested, please send a 1-3 paragraph pitch along with a link to an example of your previous long-form writing or radio work to youmustrememberthispodcast@gmail.com (subject line YMRT Presents) by September 10, 2019. If we’re interested, we will contact you for more information. Thanks!